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A Question about retirement

I work as a cleaner - caretaker and i am due to retire next March 2024 and claim my state pension . My employer has told me that i can keep on working with them after my retirement date if i want to that is of course if i am up to the job and can still do my job 

My question is if i do keep on working after my retirement date and let us say in July or August i do not want to work anymore or am not able to work anymore can i then claim my state pension straight away ?

And on another note do i still have to pay NI contributions if i continue to work after retirement age ?

Comments

  • la531983
    la531983 Posts: 2,554 Forumite
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    edited 31 August 2023 pm31 4:07PM
    You can either a) claim your state pension up to 11 months after your retirement date and get it backdated in a lump sum (no interest on this), or b) defer your state pension in 9 week blocks for as long as you like and you get an extra percentage point on your state pension for every 9 weeks you defer it by.

    https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get

    Or C) you can claim straight away on your birthday and continue working still. 

    Either way you need to start the ball rolling a few weeks before you want to start claiming it.  And if you choose option C your wages will be taxed if you earn above the annual personal allowance.
  • Brie
    Brie Posts: 13,490 Ambassador
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    The thing to watch out for is if you are eligible for any income related benefits.  So if you have housing benefit for example you can continue to collect that if your income is below the relevant amount while you are working.  But if you then claim your state pension your income will go up and you'll no longer be eligible.  Worse still is if you are getting a benefit like this and you back date your SP you will then need to repay the benefit as you had too high an income even if it wasn't being paid at that time.  (hope this makes sense but it's a very expensive mistake that's easy to avoid).  Better to defer and get an enhanced SP when you do collect it.  

    Don't forget that while you continue to work you can also continue to pay into your work pension and so continue to grow that as well.  
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  • squirrelpie
    squirrelpie Posts: 1,209 Forumite
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    Or you can claim it when it is due and keep working anyway. They don't care.
    No you won't pay NI once you're past SP age, whether you work or not. (unless perhaps you make voluntary payments to bring your state pension up to the max if you're not already there)
  • Suzycoll
    Suzycoll Posts: 205 Forumite
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    la531983 said:
    You can either a) claim your state pension up to 11 months after your retirement date and get it backdated in a lump sum (no interest on this), or b) defer your state pension in 9 week blocks for as long as you like and you get an extra percentage point on your state pension for every 9 weeks you defer it by.

    https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get

    Or C) you can claim straight away on your birthday and continue working still. 

    Either way you need to start the ball rolling a few weeks before you want to start claiming it.  And if you choose option C your wages will be taxed if you earn above the annual personal allowance.
    you can claim your state pension and carry on working or you can defer your state pension (I personally wouldn't defer but that all depends on your opinion). If you carry on working you are no longer required to pay any NI contributions. Add up your wages plus any other income plus your SP ad check if this will take you into a higher tax bracket . 
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,938 Forumite
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    I have read that deferring your state pension means that you will gain 6%, but with inflation running higher than 6% you could be losing money.
    If you do want to carry on working and claim your state pension, you could put the majority of your pay from work into a self-invested personal pension(SIPP). If you do that, you will receive pension tax relief. For example, if you add £8,000 to your pension, the government will add an extra £2,000 in tax relief.



  • Albermarle
    Albermarle Posts: 25,990 Forumite
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    I work as a cleaner - caretaker and i am due to retire next March 2024 and claim my state pension . My employer has told me that i can keep on working with them after my retirement date if i want to that is of course if i am up to the job and can still do my job 

    My question is if i do keep on working after my retirement date and let us say in July or August i do not want to work anymore or am not able to work anymore can i then claim my state pension straight away ?

    And on another note do i still have to pay NI contributions if i continue to work after retirement age ?
    You should be clear there is no such thing as a retirement age.
    There is an age when you can claim your state pension, but this is unrelated to whether you have retired from working or not.
    For example if you were lucky and had enough money you could retire at say 60, but you would not get your state pension until 66. 
  • la531983
    la531983 Posts: 2,554 Forumite
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    I have read that deferring your state pension means that you will gain 6%, but with inflation running higher than 6% you could be losing money.
    If you do want to carry on working and claim your state pension, you could put the majority of your pay from work into a self-invested personal pension(SIPP). If you do that, you will receive pension tax relief. For example, if you add £8,000 to your pension, the government will add an extra £2,000 in tax relief.



    Deferring adds a additional 1% on per 9 weeks as per the link I posted earlier. 
  • sevenhills
    sevenhills Posts: 5,938 Forumite
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    la531983 said:
    I have read that deferring your state pension means that you will gain 6%, but with inflation running higher than 6% you could be losing money.
    If you do want to carry on working and claim your state pension, you could put the majority of your pay from work into a self-invested personal pension(SIPP). If you do that, you will receive pension tax relief. For example, if you add £8,000 to your pension, the government will add an extra £2,000 in tax relief.



    Deferring adds a additional 1% on per 9 weeks as per the link I posted earlier. 
    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/should-i-defer-my-state-pension/

    This states the same, 5.8% per year.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,426 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I work as a cleaner - caretaker and i am due to retire next March 2024 and claim my state pension . My employer has told me that i can keep on working with them after my retirement date if i want to that is of course if i am up to the job and can still do my job 

    You should receive an invitation to claim your SP several weeks in advance of your SP age but you could choose not to do so until it suits your circumstances.


    https://www.gov.uk/get-state-pension


    You do not pay NI after you have reached SPA.


    Will you be receiving a workplace pension from your emplyer's scheme?

  • dealyboy
    dealyboy Posts: 1,892 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    la531983 said:
    You can either a) claim your state pension up to 11 months after your retirement date and get it backdated in a lump sum (no interest on this), or b) defer your state pension in 9 week blocks for as long as you like and you get an extra percentage point on your state pension for every 9 weeks you defer it by.

    https://www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/what-you-get

    Or C) you can claim straight away on your birthday and continue working still. 

    Either way you need to start the ball rolling a few weeks before you want to start claiming it.  And if you choose option C your wages will be taxed if you earn above the annual personal allowance.
    la531983 said:
    I have read that deferring your state pension means that you will gain 6%, but with inflation running higher than 6% you could be losing money.
    If you do want to carry on working and claim your state pension, you could put the majority of your pay from work into a self-invested personal pension(SIPP). If you do that, you will receive pension tax relief. For example, if you add £8,000 to your pension, the government will add an extra £2,000 in tax relief.



    Deferring adds a additional 1% on per 9 weeks as per the link I posted earlier. 
    la531983 said:
    I have read that deferring your state pension means that you will gain 6%, but with inflation running higher than 6% you could be losing money.
    If you do want to carry on working and claim your state pension, you could put the majority of your pay from work into a self-invested personal pension(SIPP). If you do that, you will receive pension tax relief. For example, if you add £8,000 to your pension, the government will add an extra £2,000 in tax relief.



    Deferring adds a additional 1% on per 9 weeks as per the link I posted earlier. 
    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/should-i-defer-my-state-pension/

    This states the same, 5.8% per year.
    @la531983, @sevenhills ... 

    Just to clarify on deferring state pension ...

    You must defer for at least 9 weeks but there is no concept of 9-week chunks, so you can defer to a whole number of weeks following 9 weeks after the state pension eligibility date.

    The rate is 1% uplift per 9 weeks and is calculated at the time of the award, so if the pensioner deferred for 10 weeks they would get an uplift of 1 1/9 x 0.01 of the state pension. Whilst deferment is in progress any increase in the state pension also increases the reference rate for the extra pension calculation, so there is no losing out caused by inflation.

    Once state pension and extra state pension (deferred pension) is awarded, under current rules state pension increases by the triple lock and extra state pension by CPI.
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